London's average summer temperatures are predicted to keep rising, such that by the middle of this century, it is expected that what are now heatwave temperatures will be the average temperature for summer. London generates its own microclimate, known as Urban Heat Island (UHI), which can result in the centre of London being up to 10°C warmer than the rural areas around London.

The 2003 summer heatwave resulted in about 600 excess deaths in Lon don. The hot temperatures in 2006 resulted in extremely high demands on London’s power supply network and subsequent ‘brown outs’, due to the high cooling demand. Future increases in electricity demand for cooling will affect London's overall sustainability.

LONDON LAUNCHES A GREEN FUND

22 March 2011 A new £70m fund to support new green infrastructure in London has been launched by Mayor Boris Johnson. The Foresight Environmental Fund, led by asset management firm Foresight, will bring together European funding with public and private investment to reduce the capital’s carbon footprint.

Foresight aims to increase the fund with investment from local authority pension funds and is planning to eventually leverage as much as £200m from private sector investors, including pension funds.The fund will invest in a range of green projects, including energy from waste and recycling schemes. The London Waste and Recycling Board has contributed £18m to the initial £35m to set up the fund.

“This multi-million pound fund to provide greener waste and recycling facilities is a great example of the type of innovative thinking that will stimulate low carbon economic growth for the capital,” said Mayor Johnson.

Because Urban Heat is becoming an increasing problem in the UK, the government is working on the following solutions:

• Research into the causes of damage to health by overheating in an urban environment
• An Urban Greening programme, helping to create a fairer society giving people access to cooling green spaces as well as cool our surroundings in hot weather.
• Supporting the Mayor’s targets to:
- Increase tree cover by 5% by 2025
- Increase greenery in the centre of London by 5% by 2030 and a further 5% by 2050
- 100,000m2 of green roofs by 2012
- Enhance 280ha of greenspace by 2012
• ‘Design summer year’ guidance for architects, to ensure we’re building the right types of building to cope with heat as well as cold
• Creating a network of weather stations across London to understand its micro climate

• Working with London Boroughs to identify and promote heatwave refuges, to ensure that the city os prepared in advance to protect London’s most vulnerable residents from the acute effect of heatwave.

"Changing surface colors in 100 of the world’s largest cities could save the equivalent of 44 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide — about as much as global carbon emissions are expected to rise by over the next decade."

US Department of Energy, Steven Ch